Batman gets a lot of flak for his no killing rule, and I mean a lot of flak. Look up any content on Batman on any platform, and you won’t have to scroll far to find people who try to be smart by bringing up how Batman is actually responsible for every murder the Joker’s ever committed because he refuses to kill him, as if the Joker somehow escaping triple-max security with a loose hair almost immediately is Batman’s fault. This is without a doubt the number one complaint that most people, usually non or casual Batman fans, have with the character, but I say that the Dark Knight refusing to kill is actually one of the greatest facets of his character. And even beyond the narrative significance it has, it actually just makes a whole lot of sense. There are incredible reasons Batman not killing makes perfect sense, both narratively, and practically in the rules of his world.
The Narrative Reasons
There are a thousand narrative reasons why Batman refusing to kill makes perfect sense. However, the main two explanations are that Batman needs a line and he values the sanctity of life. Although this argument has grown far more popular than it had any right to, one of the most famous Batman lines is that Bruce refuses to kill his enemies because once he starts he will never be able to stop himself. This gives the false impression that Batman is a mentally unstable psychopath who is constantly on the edge of becoming a serial killer, which is obviously not true, but there is some validity to this argument. Batman was built around the idea of saving other people from death, stopping anyone else from ever having to feel the grief that Bruce felt the night his parents died. If Batman starts killing people, even if he only kills truly evil criminals, he would be causing that same kind of pain to others, which goes against everything he stands for. Batman wouldn’t immediately become a bloodthirsty monster, but he would start sacrificing some lives to save others, which is the opposite of what he set out to do.
Of course, there is the far more consistent explanation that Bruce respects the sanctity of life far too much to kill. Thomas and Martha Wayne inspired this strong value in Bruce from the outset, with Thoams being a doctor and Martha running the largest charities inside Gotham. They lived fully to improve the lives of every citizen in Gotham, and their deaths didn’t change that for Burce. Not only is he trying to honor their memories by cleaning up Gotham, but Bruce knows so intimately how painful loss is. He uses that grief to drive him and inspire him to save everyone. The last thing he wants is to inflict the same pain he felt onto another, even his worst enemies. No matter how much he hates his villains, Batman will try to save them because he truly believes they can be better, somewhere deep down. Even if you don’t agree with it, this makes perfect sense for Bruce Wayne as a character, because he is a man driven to help everyone, no matter who they are.
The Practical Reasons
Beyond all of the beautiful narrative reasons that Batman refuses to kill, there are plenty of practical reasons that he doesn’t kill. The biggest ones are that he wants Batman to be a symbol of hope for Gotham City, and killing would get him to be the number one target for all manner of law enforcement so fast. Let’s be honest, a lot of people love the idea of the Punisher, but if Frank Castle actually existed, people would live in terror of a man like that. He would be hated and ridiculed, and instead of being seen as some anti-hero getting the dirty work done he would be looked at like a mass murderer who deserves to be put in jail. Batman would be so, so much better at killing than the Punisher if he tried, and so much more hated. Yes, Batman is a vigilante and that does break laws, but not only was he deputized by the police for practically the first forty years of his existence, he does genuinely try to bring people to justice. He works outside the law because the law in Gotham is corrupt and limited, but he does not place himself above every law. Batman is a hero, and heroes don’t try to inspire fear in the hearts of the innocent, they try to save people.
There’s also one more, secret, meta reason that Batman will never kill. If Batman kills his villains, then there will be no more villains for him to fight. This is the most cynical answer, obviously, and people who want to justify their wrong opinion that Batman does kill will often cite how his refusal to do so emerged with the growth of the Comics Code Authority. However, this often overlooks the simple fact that Batman is a hero, and how even his creators regretted having Batman kill in early issues because it made him less heroic. Still, it cannot be ignored that one reason Batman’s villains will never die is because we love his villains, so DC is monetarily incentivized to keep them around, and thus let them escape Arkham every three issues to murder more people.
At the end of the day, whether it be because he is trying to stop himself from being hated and targeted by law enforcement, or because he truly, deeply believes that everyone can be saved, Batman will never kill. Some people think this is stupid or that it creates too much death to justify, but at the end of the day, Batman will try to save everybody. He is unwilling to give up on his city or anyone inside of it. Batman will never kill, and whether you agree with if he should or not, his reasons for not doing so make perfect sense for his character.
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